Halloween 1998
by LadyHawkKathy
Summary: A continuation of Descendant of the Falcon, Harry's first Halloween after the fall of Voldemort. One-shot fic. Sorry if this is a bit rough, I was rushing to get it up for Halloween as a gift to my readers.


Halloween 1998

It was Halloween and Harry was to say the least feeling a bit jumpy. Things had never gone right for him on Halloween and even though he had his family back he just could not help but feel as if something was going to go terrible wrong. Hermione told him he was being paranoid and that he needed to just relax. The war was over Voldemort was gone and everything had been going well for them since last December when Cassy first arrived. Sirius had even told him that he needed to stop anticipating gloom and doom and start looking at the holiday for the celebration it was.

So maybe he was being a little jumpy and taking little things that had been happening well out of proportion. After all peoples tea spills every day and it could have just been that his razor was dull that caused him to cut his chin so bad that Hermione had to ask Cassy to come over with a healing draft to stop the bleeding and heal the slash. So his morning had gotten off on a bad start, it wasn't an omen of an even worse day to come.

Harry changed his clothing. The blood stained shirt and the tea soaked trousers and got his bag to head off to classes. He and Hermione met Draco out on the parkway then the three aparated off to the university. Decorations covered the quad and everyone was cheerful as the head to whatever class he needed to get to. Draco headed off to him mundane classes in math and biology while Harry headed to his classes in Non-human biology and Healing Arts, and Hermione headed to Magical Law and Interspecies relations. Then they would all meet back up for advanced potions and lunch before having to head to Advanced Magical Theory, the Humanities, and History. Then it would be heading back home. That was if all went as it normally did. Problem was it was Halloween and Nothing for Harry ever when normal on Halloween.

Today's class in non-human bio was to be the dissection of a redcap but when Harry entire the class room it looked as though it had been hit with a bomb. Harry looked about and found his professor locked in his book cobered and one of the other student assistants curled up behind the lecture.

"Professor what happened?"

"I'm not quite sure Mr. Potter. Miss Hornsby and I were setting out the dissection trays and placing the three redcaps onto them when we were overcome by a sense of dread. I'm not quite sure what happened after that until you opened the cabinet door but by the looks of the room I would say it was a deliberate attack, and thank the Goddess Miss Hornsby and I had enough sense to hide when the fear overtook us."

Harry looked about the room once more then started to help right the tables and clean up the mess. Clearly there wasn't going to be any dissecting done today the three redcap bodies were nowhere to be found, and there were no other specimens of any non-human creatures prepared for study at this time. So it was back to the anechant text to study what they could of redcap anatomy.

The charts were very detailed and the documentation was very in-depth giving Harry a good overview of the redcap's internal organ structure and it differences from that of humans or other fay. It wasn't till nearly the end of class that Harry noticed a small easily overlooked notation at the bottom of the description page that read

: It should be noted that Redcaps take very poorly to having their kin's body's desecrated:

That was when Harry remembered that one of the Redcaps abilities was to create a cloud of fear that would render their targets helpless and incapable of defending themselves agents the Redcap attack. Harry showed the notation to his Professor who turned a few shades whiter then his normal.

"How is it that I was fool enough to miss something this important? And this does explain why Mundungus told me to keep the bodies locked away until we were ready to do the dissecting. We truly were very lucky that you came along when you did Mr., Potter for I am sure that it was your arrival that chased the little devils off and kept Miss Hornsby and I from being discovered and worse."

Harry just smiled as Professor Tripe walked him out thanking him again for his timely arrival. His next class was Healing Arts and he was running late so he just nodded and ran off down the corridor.

Across the quad the infirmary waited where Harry was to have a practical lesson in healing arts. As Harry entered the room all was a buzz. Quickly Harry was told of a new patient that had been brought in just that morning and that Doctor Kensey wanted Harry in particular to be the attending Healer. This confused Harry since he was a first year Healer in training. Then he saw the patient, who had been quarantined in a locked observation room. The patient was a Naga, a magical being that Harry had only read about in this text books.

"So why is it that Doctor Kensey thinks I'm the right person to be the attending for this patient." Harry asked Choo who was in his class.

"Well we, She looked at the other Trainee Healers, may have made mention to Doctor Kensey that you are a parcel mouth. And since no-one else can understand the new patient he felt you might be able to speak with him."

Harry nodded, it made some sense. "So why it is that Doctor Kensey didn't tell me all of this."

No-one seemed to be able to give Harry a real answer which made him feel as if the Halloween curse might be involved but the first thing he had learned as a healer in training was that the patients welfare always came first.

It was clear that the Naga was in pain, but it was also clear that it was in a very bad mood and dangerous to anyone who tried to entire the room. Harry needed something that would protect him long enough to be able to calm the injured Naga down so he could asses its injuries and treat them.

Harry did a quick search though his healer's bag and found nothing that would be of assistances in protecting him, and then he remembered the ruin shield that Sirius had scribed onto his skin before the final battle. He had told Harry that it was now part of him and would never go away unless dispelled by a ruin master but that the affect would only last for around an hour unless reactivated. Now all he needed was to remember how to reactivate it, and he really didn't have time to sit back and do that right now so being a resourceful wizard he did the second best thing.

Quickly he pulled out the mirror frim his pocket and called Sirius. "Hi sorry to call in the middle of the day but I need to ask you for some help."

"You're not interrupting anything, besides if you need help I am all too willing to help if I can." Clearly from what Harry could see Sirius was dealing with some paperwork, and when given a chase to avoid paperwork he would take it.

"Well it's nothing big; I just couldn't remember how to activate the ruin ward shield." Harry made sure Sirius couldn't see what was behind him in the isolation room.

"Oh is that all," Sirius smiled then described the ruin pattern to reactivate the shield.

By the time Harry had activated the ruin shield the Naga had settled down in a corner of the exam room. Well this looks to be the best time to try and check out my patient, Harry thought to himself, unfortunate he couldn't have been more wrong. Harry had barely opened the door and entered to room when the Naga sprang at him from where it was coiled in the corner, slamming him into the door behind him and sinking a fang into his arm.

"Well that was not necessary." Harry rubbed the small wound the fang had left. Then he saw what it was that the Naga had been coiled around, Lying stiff as a board and looking gray in paler was Doctor Kensey. "What have you done," Harry pushed past the confused Naga and examined Dr. Kensey.

"He came in and poked at my tail. I told him stop but he would not so I bit him."

Harry found the bite, "How quickly does your venom work and what does it do?"

Again the Naga looked confused, "It is an instant paralysis then after some time death. The only bite more deadly is that of a basalis"

"And treatment?"

"None. I do not understand snake talker how it is that you are not lying next to your friend."

Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a small vial that Cassy had given to him as a gift when he started his classes. He pulled the stopper and dropped several drops on Dr. Kinsey's wound, then dropped a few on his own. He watched as Dr. Kinsey's wound smoked then healed and his color slowly returned. He then pulled his instructor over to the door and called two of the other students over to take Dr. Kinsey to a bed to continue recovering before turning back to the Naga. "Now as for you, we will have no more of this behavior or we will release you back into the countryside to care for your injuries yourself."

The Naga lowered his head and looked very much like a small child who had just been chastised. "I will do as you say healer, for you are a great healer indeed to be able to heal one of our bites."

Harry didn't tell the Naga that the vial he had pulled out contained phoenix tears or that he had found that he had acquired a tolerance to many of the magical venoms do to his encounter with the Basalis in his second year at Hogwarts. Having his patient view with awe could prove beneficial.

After a questioning and examination of the poor creatures tail Harry found that it had two broken vertebrae in its tail, the results of an unfortunate encounter with a delivery lorry. Harry splinted the affected area of the tail and cast a warming charm on it then left to confer with someone who knew better how to deal with a spinal injury.

Dr. Kinsey was still not recovered enough to ask him for advice so Harry did the only thing he could, he called Cassy. After appraising her of the situation and what he had implemented so far he got around to asking her what he needed to do to help speed the healing and keep the Naga, whose name did not translate to English, from having any of the listed complications set in. Her solution was simple but would have to wait until he was in potions class since it was a modification to the skelegrow potion. So Harry went back to the isolation room and cast a sleep spell on the Naga to help him stay still till he could get the skelegrow potion modified and dose him with it.

Potions class was in the magical studies building, where Hermione and Draco were already waiting when Harry came running in a little late after sedating his patient. He could tell that Hermione wanted to talk but it would have to wait till he first discussed with the Professor what he needed to do. Professor Slughorn looked over the modifications to the skelegrow potion that Harry needed to make and Okayed his project as long as he was able to observe the results of its use. Harry agreed since he knew that he would need to spend the night at the University monitoring his patients progress and administering doses and regular intervals.

Hermione had already set up the potions bench when Harry finally joined her and Draco. "Sorry Mione but I need to work on a different potion project" Harry moved the potions ingredients off his section of the bench and then set up what he would need.

"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione looked over the potion ingredients Harry had placed in his station.

"I have a new patient in the infirmary that has some specific healing need, so I need to modify the skelegrow to work of his broken bones."

"But Harry why not just cast a repair charm on the brakes."

"Because Mione the patient is a Naga and the injuries are to the vertebras in his tail" He added his ingredients to his caldron and increased the flame to bring it to a low rolling boil.

Draco watched what Harry was doing and repeated the proses in his own caldron. "Never hurts to have extra."

Harry smiled, "Thanks Draco."

"So they had you work on the Naga because you're the only one who can talk to him, I am assuming since healing a creature like a Naga is beyond the skills of a first year healer."

Harry nodded. "I think it was Choo's idea since Dr. Kinsey was not in any shape to ask me. He had gone in to do the initial exam and the Naga bit him."

Hermione's hands went to her mouth in shock and fear. "My god Harry a Naga's venom is only a little less deadly than that of a Basilisk. Is Dr. Kinsey….. is he still alive?"

"Yes Mione I was able to get to him before it went fatal and administered the phoenix tears Cassy gave me when we started classes."

"That had to be some feat," Draco readjusted the flames under both his and Harry's caldrons.

"That was why I activated the ruin shield before I went into the isolation room. Of course he still knocked me into the door and managed to bite me even with the shield, though I think I would have been in no shape to help the Naga or Dr. Kinsey if I hadn't had the shield up."

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and was examining it. "Harry you do know that even a juvenile Naga can kill a full grown elephant with a wipe of its tail."

He kissed her on the forehead, "That Mione was why I had the shield active."

The potions had changed colors to the shade that Cassy had told Harry would indicate that they were ready. Harry nodded to Draco and together they moved the caldrons off the flames and cast chilling charms on them to rapidly stop the reaction proses, then pulled black bottled from the supple shelf and bottled the potions off.

That was when the sound of screams cut the quite of the lab. Harry grabbed the bottles and tossed them into his bag before running out to see what was causing the screams. It only took one glace to make harry once again feel that his Halloween curse was working. There in the middle of the quad was a large female Naga heading for the infirmary while being fired upon by security.

Harry laid his wand to his throat and yelled "Stop, Fall back she is here because we have her child in the infirmary being treated for a broken tail."

Security moved back into the Doorways of the buildings around the quad to keep any other students from entering the quad.

The Female Naga turned to Harry when she saw the security respond to his commands even if she did not understand what this wizard was saying. "You, you know where my son is," She hissed

"Yes, Harry responded. " I am treating him for a broken tail."

She had risen to her full high which put her about a third larger than her son, then dropped down to look Harry straight in the eyes. "You must take me to him so I can comfort him before the poison sets into his wounds and he dies."

Harry moved closer to the Mother who was now crying and reached his hand out to hers. "Your son will not die I am treating him and have with me the potion that will heal his broken tail and keep the potion from setting in."

"I am Shirher the matriarch of my tribe and Healer if you can do as you claim you will be held in honor among our people."

Harry yelled for security to clear out the infirmary before he headed in with Shirher. Gasps and whispers could be herd as they passed the buildings and headed in. The drapes had been pulled around the beds of those who could not be moved, like Dr. Kinsey who was now sleeping quietly having removed from most of the damage from the bite.

As they approached the observation window of the isolation room Shirher stopped and reared up. "he does not move he is dead you lied to me."

"No madam he is only asleep I cast a spell to put him in a deep sleep so he would not move and risk injuring his tail anymore." Harry opened the door to let her entire the room.

Shirher quickly slithered over to her child and laid her head on his chest, a look of relief coming to her face as she was now assured that her child was fine. Harry moved around her and cast the counter spell to wake the child so he could give him the first dose of the potion to heal his tail. He remembered his first reaction to the skelegrow and hoped that the young Naga would not respond the same way.

Luck was with Harry, the Naga actually seemed to like the potion and he had to stop him from trying to drink down the rest of the potion. He then explained to both the Mother and child that the potion needed to be given in measured doses every two hours for the next eight hours to work properly and that until the last dose was taken he needed to remain still to let the bones set properly. With everything explained Harry recast the warming charm and left Shirher to care for her son and headed to lunch then to his remaining classes.

The remainder of Harry's day went along quietly with him stopping back at the infirmary between classes and again at the end of his day to give the second and third dose of the bone mending potion. Both Hermione and Draco accompanied Harry when he headed over for the third dose to see how well the potion was working.

"So are those who came with you your family," Shirher asked as Harry gentle checked on the healing of the vertebra.

Harry looked up to see Hermione and Draco watching through the observation window and smiled, "Yes they are two of my family. She is my betrothed and he is my cousin." It still felt odd to call Draco his cousin when less than a year ago he still thought of Draco as his enemy, but things had changed and now he really enjoyed spending time with this new improved Draco.

"And do you have plans for his special night Healer."

It had not occurred to Harry that he had not introduced himself to Shirher, "We had but your sons healing are more important so I will stay here for the night to be sure he gets the last two doses on time. And Shirher please call me Harry."

"You honor me with your name Harry," She rose to her full height towering over Harry and nearly hitting the ceiling when she did. "We take such a thing as a great honor and a show of trust." As Harry tipped his head back to look up at her his hair parted revealing the lightening scare. Shirher lowered quickly down over Harry moving so fast that he staggered back as her fingers pushed his hair off his forehead to look closer at the scare. "You, you are the one who killed the Dark Lord."

The hair on Harry's neck prickled at Shirher's mention of Voldemort. He wasn't sure if he was in danger or not, but he know if he was there was no place to go and he had not reactivated the ruin shield so he was vulnerable to whatever was coming.

Shirher dropped down to the floor prostrate in front of Harry. Hermione and Draco rushed to the door of the isolation room ready to rush in to add Harry if they were needed.

"You are our savior, you killer the great Basilisk and the abomination of a wizard who ruled over my people. I and my people owe you Harry. We owe you our lives and our freedom, if there is ever anything you need form use we will do it without question. And now you are a Healer and have saved my child I owe you a life debt and shall serve you is whatever way you wish till you feel this debt is paid."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond. This was not the response he had expected, honestly who would. He was just grateful and relieved that he did not have to fight for his life. Shirher's son was looking just as confused as Harry and had moved to try and get closer to his mother.

"Stop Harry yelled at him, you cannot move till the healing is complete." Quickly he went over to once again check on the healing of the broken vertebras. No change, the little movement had not shifted the child's tail.

Shirher had rose from the floor and joined Harry at her son's side. "I have watched all you have been doing and understand when the next time is that my child will need to have more of the healing juice. I can care for him for the rest of the time it will take and I promise we will stay in your room till you come back tomorrow, so please Harry go and spend the rest of your day with your family."

Still feeling as though the world had taken a twist to the left harry nodded and handed the bottle of bone healing potion over to Shirher then hugged her and left the isolation room walking into an embrace from Hermione. This had truly become one of the weirdest Halloweens ever and the day was not over.

Back at the parkway between the Manors things had changed, decorations covered the fences and gates that opened onto the parkway, and two large bowls filled with sweet treats had been placed where trick or treater's could find them. It was the first time Harry and Draco had ever seen such a display of Halloween cheer. Harry had never been allowed to go out on Halloween when he had been small and once in Hogwarts well Halloween had become something Harry just wanted to avoid. For Draco his Father had never felt it proper to go out with all the mundanes and had not allowed his Mother to decorate or celebrate in any way.

Then from out of the mists that swirled around the Manors the forms of those who had crossed throw the vail come into view. Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's as the spirits moved closer.

"Do not crowd in on the children now." Sirius's voice cut through the uneasy quite. "Blessed Sawian Harry, Hermione, Draco." Sirius came forward and embraced the trio.

Happy Halloween called a voice that Harry felt he should know as two spirits came forward. It took him a few minute to recognize the specters but then a smile spread across Harry's face. "Grandfather Potter, Grandmother Potter." The two spirits smiled back clearly happy that they had been recognized. The sound of aperating let everyone know that more corporal visitors were now arriving. First was Cassy arriving home from the ministry, then Remus fallowed by James, Lily, and Rose. They were then joined by Nym , Andy and Cissy who were each carrying a little one, Nym with Teddy, and Andy and Cissy with the Cassy and Sirius's Twin boys. Last to arrive were Ted and the Weasley clan each greeting Harry with a blessed Sawian or Happy Halloween and each making this the best Halloween that Harry had ever had, as they all made their way into Mawr Manor where a grand holiday feast had been set out.

It really had seemed to Harry that this was going to be just another Halloween that he had wished he had stayed in bed for but fate had choose to make this a Halloween to be remembered. Not for the life or death encounter but for the unexpected wonders that fate placed in his path. This day had then ended with the greatest gift he could have ever wished for the embrace of friends and family both those alive and those who he had never expected to see until he himself had passed.


End file.
